How do I hit the “Ctrl” key without straining my pinky?

Question

When I'm using Chrome, Powerpoint, Notepad++, etc. I take a lot of advantage of the keyboard shortcuts in those programs. However, this gets a bit tedious and straining, having my pinky stretch down to the Ctrl key every time I need to save, for example.

At this point my pinky is strong enough to beat anyone in the "Pinky Wrestling" that Burger King describes on their hash brown baggies, but it's also quite sore after a couple hours in front of the computer.

How should I go about hitting the Ctrl key without straining my pinky?

Answer 1

I'd suggest that you don't use your pinky at all - press the outer command keys using the base of your small finger on the relevant hand (the edge of your palm, essentially), this works well for Ctrl and Ctrl+Shift combos.

This method doesn't require moving your hand much and doesn't require any finger gymnastics. I guess it might need a little bit of practice if its new to you, and is completely useless if you have a "flat" laptop keyboard as you need to be able to press in from the edge of the keys.

Since I'm not 100% sure I've explained what I mean very well, here's a quick photo I've just taken of what I mean - my left hand pressing the Ctrl key with the base of my small finger having not moved my hand. For pressing Ctrl+Shift my hand would just be a little further up, to cover both:

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Another option is to press Ctrl and the key being modified with different hands if you don't do so already - allowing you to lower the hand pressing Ctrl and avoid the finger gymnastics, but this again will need training and might be slower in general but especially if you happen to have the other hand on the mouse at the time.

Answer 2

Using autohotkey, remap your capslock key as your third control key; the script will go something like this--

; capslock into control key
SetCapsLockState, AlwaysOff
Capslock::
Send {Control Down}
Sleep 500
Send {Control Up}
Return

Answer 3

Since you are supposed to hit the control key on the opposite side of the keyboard of the key that you want to hit, just slide your other hand back to hit it. It may be easier to rotate your hand instead though.

Answer 4

OS X has a built-in way to remap ⇪ to ⌃:

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A bit extreme, but you could make a custom keyboard layout where the actions usually provided by modifier key states are accessed with dead keys under the thumbs:

_{On OS X the actions under control or command can't be remapped using this technique, but the actions that output single characters (under shift and option) can.}

Answer 5

Here is a page (xahlee.org) that talks about various ways to avoid the pinky problem.

I tried the method he outlines for pressing the control key using your palm, and had varying levels of success. Unfortunately, years of habit is very hard to break, and I keep falling back to using my pinky (on Caps Lock key, at least).

Answer 6

Before doing shortcuts like this, I lift my left hand off the home row (A S D F) to a new position.

I tend to turn my hand to the left slightly (~5-10°) and move my fingers down a row.

The final position is then Ctrl Z X C, with V to the right of my index finger.

Using Ctrl as a pivot point, if I open my hand the T key can be reached without much strain.

I think the strain you mention may be caused by trying to reach for Ctrl without moving your hand.

Answer 7

If you're using Windows, turn on StickyKeys (Tap Shift 5x). It lets you use Shift, Ctrl and Alt without holding the keys down.

This way for example when copying, you just press and release Ctrl followed by c.

I found it much more comfortable for my pinky when I did not have to hold these keys down.

Answer 8

You could try a different keyboard. A smaller one may fit your hand better. In fact, you may want to look into an ergonomic keyboard that feels good to you for general use, not just Chrome.

Answer 9

You can also download Microsoft's Keyboard mapper and design your very own layout.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/goglobal/bb964665

It's relatively trivial to swap the buttons and load it up as a new keybaord mapping. While it take a bit more effort than the above solutions, it has the added advantage of being more compatible at a lower level. This is the same tool people used to make the DVORAK - QWERTY + CTRL layout.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/808422/mac-style-dvorak-qwerty-command-keyboard-mapping-for-windows

Answer 10

I know this question is 9 years old, but still hanging in there.

I've cracked this problem over a span of 15 years.

I've gradually perfected a very lightly customized keyboard layout over that time, that doesn't use pinky for CTRL. Initially I did it only so that I could have roughly the same keys for the same common functions, across Windows, MacOS with Apple keyboard, and Linux. (And any of the previous on any keyboard layout, e.g. Apple keyboard on Windows.)

The optimal way to accomplish this, is in part, to remap the CTRL function to the left Alt. Then, you activate CTRL with your thumb. Easy-peasy.

And Alt now occupies what was formerly CTRL, both left and right. Often times to activate that, I find it easier to just lift my whole hand - left or right - and press it with my THUMB, with brute-force like a monkey, and then return my hand to home row. This sound crazy actually writing it out, but it works. And this, in spite of the fact that 1) I have long fingers, 2) I'm a musician with strong flexible fingers, 3) I'm a touch-typist who can type 100 wpm if I put my mind to it. It's just automatic, fast, and it works.

For Windows on a standard PC keyboard, I remap:

• Left ALT = Left CTRL
• Left Windows = Context Menu
• Left CTRL = Left ALT
• Right ALT = Right Windows
• Right Windows = Right ALT
• Right CTRL = Right Alt

I do this on all machines, Windows or Linux. For Windows I use an ancient utility called KeyTweak. It remaps things in the registry and requires a reboot, so it doesn't matter that it's an ancient 32-bit program; and it works on any keyboard no matter the scancodes or funky layout. For Linux, I use a custom script that, surprisingly, took a few years of debugging to work reliably every time. It modifies XWindow keyboard mapping and has to be run after every reboot.

Hope this helps.

Answer 11

The pinky strain depends on your compatibility with the keyboard. I recently bought an expensive Microsoft ergonomic wireless keyboard (because my old dell one was too noisy) and while it's great for typing, it's a pinky-killer.

The problem with this one is that the Ctrl button is too close to the Z button. I have to bend my pointer and my pinky until they almost touch.

I had no problem with the dell doing this, but with the new microsoft keyboard I'd better learn how to use another finger for the Z.

After just a couple of days I'm feeling pain in the articulations. I do 3D and I probably hit Ctrl, Shift, alt, Z, X, C, V combinations about 20 times a minute. Funny I never had a problem with my dell keyboard (over 3 years of use). I guess "one-size-fits-all" doesn't go with keyboards.

Bottom line - try to find a quality keyboard based on reviews. Once bought, try to adapt to it if it doesn't feel natural. Try switching fingers (hard, I know) and ultimately, if you can't get used to it, buy another one. No point in sacrificing your health over a few $$$. A bottle of painkillers may cost as much as a proper keyboard :)

Answer 12

You may want foot switch with a macro function. I am using this. You can macro any key up and down strokes into switch on and off.

One of cons is the switch depth is far deep, some fast shortcuts like Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V are not done as you want.

Answer 13

I'm using combination of palm pressing and key remapping mentioned in posted answers. I've swapped LCtrl with Tab using xmodmap and I press the remapped Tab with pinky and remapped LCtrl with palm.

I think it works well in that sense you don't usually press and hold Tab so you don't end up with your hand in different postion during Ctrl+ chords. However you loose pinky during e.g. Ctrl+a compared to pressing LCtrl with palm, but this issue is no different from standard usage w/o palm.

I strongly agree that standard placement of Ctrl is no-go for pinky (especially RCtrl which is often farther than LCtrl) given that how many keyboard shortcuts involve Ctrl.

Answer 14

Abandon the home row with your left hand! Having been a PC gamer for over a decade, my left hand rests on the following keys: Shift, A, W, D, Space. From here, you can reach Ctrl without breaking a sweat. As a bonus, you can tell your boss that the extended gaming sessions at your work desk are for "training".

Answer 15

Late to the party, but since I've been struggling with this for some time and, even tried some of the solutions proposed with varying results, I've recently found a solution which worked awesome for me, since then, about 4 months ago.

Remapping keys to other positions didn't help me as much, since they were also away from the home row. Good ergonomic keyboards with "mod keys under thumbs" and fancy shapes are very expensive (although it would have been justified if this didn't worked).

What I ended up implementing is a home row mod tailored to my needs and tastes, specifically GACS variant on my S,D,F,G keys instead of A,S,D,F due to keyboard shape, my hand ergonomics and personal prerence. Notice that the article refers to firmwares and keyboards, but I've done it purely via software under Linux with my aging split keyboard. Read it just for the ergonomics, they make a lot of sense.

Basically, it means using keys in the home row as dual letter/mod. For example, I have my F key act as CTRL if hold and regular key if press-released. Ditto for S/Super,D/Alt,G/Shift. Also, since I'm on a split keyboard which provides a nice separation, I've mirrored those in H/J/K/L keys so I have mod keys in both sides. Now my home mod keys are always closer than the real mod keys, which is awesome to get used, since it becomes more comfortable soon. You can tweak your setup to what suits you better. Ergonomically, looks to me the best solution and very easy to get used to.

The software I've used is kmonad and a config file refined as I've been using it. Kmonad is a true awesomeness for keyboard customization. I've also added some very personal gimmicks, such as an extra ESC key on my Right Shift tap, and " (double quotes) on Left Shift tap, added to their usual function. And, by using layers (see docs) I've created an extra arrow keys set by doing B+[hjkl]. You can go crazy in customizing and works for any keyboard, no special hardware/firmwares needed.

After some months of using, I've got very used to it. Since you keep normal functioning, it does not gets much in the way and you can progressively get used. Try using F/J as Ctrl at first. I was surprised on how quick I got used, but as it's way easier (read: lazier) to use them, it quickly became my preferred choice. Feels very comfortable, since there is way less hand travel. And, since you have all keys at your disposal to create customizations and layers, it can fit well for lots of cases.